Criticism hurled at Martinez for his handling of bullpen
Relievers are the canaries of major league rosters, the first players tossed into the mine, the first to get a sense of a manager’s strategic know-how and feel its effects. Washington Nationals relievers and those who watched their use closely in the season’s first half are chirping about rookie Manager Dave Martinez.
The Nationals begin their second half at .500, in third place in a division they have won running away two years straight. They have largely the same roster as 2016 and 2017, but with a better bullpen. The major differences? Animprobable slew of injuries and an inexperienced manager. The injuries might explain this whole season, though no one wants to hear such an excuse. The manager has borne and will bear the brunt of the scrutiny, particularly if things do not turn around.
Martinez’s ability to handle a pitching staff emerged as the primary concern in the Nationals clubhouse in the first part of this season, according to on- and off-the-record conversations with players and those familiar with this team’s inner-workings.
The biggest concern is workload — a problem relievers believe, and have said publicly, sent Brandon Kintzler and Ryan Madson to the disabled list while causing Sammy Solis’ performance to suffer enough that he ended up at Class AAA Syracuse. At one point in May, the Nationals had five relievers — Kintzler, Madson, Solis, Sean Doolittle and Matt Grace — on pace for career-highs in appearances. Those numbers have evened out, in part because of those disabled list stints. Kintzler leads the team with 40 appearances in 96 games, though more than 60 relievers around the league have appeared more often.
Martinez’s reasoning for his heavy reliance on what was once a big three, then became a big four when the Nationals acquired Kelvin Herrera on June 18, was that his team had played more close games than anyone in the majors. He needed to use those guys because his team’s leads were not big enough to be handed to anyone else, and indeed, that was true. Before the rotation collapsed in late June, the Nationals had the smallest average run difference per game of any team in baseball — 1.90 runs. At that point, the league median was 2.27, according to BaseballMusings.com.
Nationals relievers don’t have a problem with the heavy usage itself as much as with the lack of communication that led to it. Baseball protocol calls for relievers to always tell their manager they’re good to go, then for the coaching staff to intervene on their behalf.
“A lot of times when Davey asks, you just tell him, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m good,’ “Madson said. “He’s got a lot of stuff to worry about. It’s typical for bullpen guys not to be as honest with the manager. That’s just the dynamic there.”
But for a while, those relievers felt their more honest messages, as communicated through the coaching staff, were not getting back to Martinez. So even in non-desperate situations, pitchers who were feeling overworked — most often Kintzler, Madson and Solis — did not get the rest they probably needed. Martinez recognized an issue, and took steps to rectify it.
“Over the last maybe month or so, maybe since we got Herrera, he’s gone around to the relievers and been a lot more proactive with that communication,” Doolittle said. “I think that’s helped.”
“He’s saying with that, please let me know. Give me information,” Madson said. “. . . I would never talk to a normal manager about that. He’s closing that gap.”
A more complicated concern is the question of trust, as manifested in the way Martinez warms up relievers. When a starter runs into trouble or a reliever gets in a jam, Martinez will often warm up reinforcements, just in case. This makes sense, having someone ready to bail out a struggling pitcher.
But what players notice is that those relievers who warm up often do not start the next inning. For example, if Justin Miller warms up in case a starter cannot get out of the sixth, he does not start the seventh. Another reliever warms up to pitch the seventh, and Miller never appears. Relievers count warming up, or “getting hot,” as a day of work, because it taxes their arm just as much as in-game pitching. They would rather see Miller start that next inning, even if it is not usually his.
Martinez not allowing pitchers to start those next innings is interpreted in the bullpen as a sign that he does not trust them. Therein lies the disconnect between relievers, trained to expect the best of themselves in every situation, and a manager, who must decide who’s best is better. One cannot blame him for going with his best relievers in big spots.